Brickset: Latest news

Ringing in the changes; time for a new Ambassador [Brickset news]

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:12:32 GMT

Back in November 2010, LEGO changed the qualifying criteria for their 'Ambassador' programme and on-line communities such as Brickset.com, fbtb.com, etc., were then eligible to qualify for an 'Ambassador' post. For a year or two prior to that, only regional LEGO User Groups qualified (i.e. those that existed in the real world), and prior to that LEGO picked individuals that were felt to be exceptional buiilders and 'key' influencers in the wider LEGO fan community. Just out of interest, Huw was one of the chosen Ambassadors right at the beginning!

So what is a LEGO Ambassador? That's a good question. The role has changed quite a lot since the programme first stood up; today it is mostly about being a conduit for information between LEGO and the fan community. It is a way for LEGO to target information at the adult fan community (e.g. passing press releases, asking for feedback, promoting the on-line questionaires, etc.) and for the adult fan community to be able to ask for information from LEGO. Unfortunately, much of what the fan community wants to know is information that the team in LEGO that looks after the Ambassador programme (the Community Engagement team, which also supports fan events, runs the LUGBULK programme, etc.) are unable to answer for commercial and other reasons. It also acts as a forum for Ambassadors to work together and discuss topics of interest across the world-wide fan community. There are currently over 70 Ambassadors, from all across the world.

In the early days of the Ambassador programme, the Ambassadors got involved in a lot of 'secret' projects; however, that stopped a few years ago and the Ambassadors now get no access to priviledged information.

I've been the Ambassador for Brickset.com since November 2010 and over the last 14 months I've enjoyed the experience (despite the occasional frustrations) but have now chosen to stand down to give someone else the opportunity to represent the community here. Therefore, it's my pleasure to announce that fellow Admin DrDaveWatford has just taken over as the official LEGO Ambassador for Brickset.com and I'm confident that he'll do a great job representing the community.

If you have any questions about the Ambassador programme, ask away and one of us will have a crack at answering it!

Pictures from the German toy fair [New set news]

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:11:38 GMT

As suspected, images are starting to surface from the German toy fair that started on Wednesday.

The first gallery to be brought to my attention is at a Slovenian LEGO site, Kocke Klub where you can see overview pictures of the displays.

Looking at the images, one thing's for sure, LEGO spent way more time and effort on the display than they did for London!

I believe the show runs until Saturday and I suspect more images will appear online then. So, keep an eye out and let us know when you find them! (Thanks RJH)

Update: for some reason the source site has removed them: "Sorry guys. Because of stupid member who wrote some unreal comments on other forum, I decide to remove pictures. " Not quite sure what he's referring to, hopefully nothing to do with Brickset...

Update: Smashing Bricks has reposted the images and added a few more.

New discounts at Amazon.com [Amazon.com watch]

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:11:58 GMT

	Price	Saving	Discount
3836 Games Magikus	$5.00	$4.99	50%

View all discounts at Amazon.com | Hide these alerts

Save $10 on LEGO City or Ninjago at Toys R Us [Shopping news (USA)]

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:43:53 GMT

Valid thru' Saturday 2/4, you'll save $10 on any total LEGO City or LEGO Ninjago construction set purchase of $50 or more at Toys R Us. Much like the other promotion, you're going to be hard pressed to find any kind of a deal here as every single set is significantly marked up right now. Shining examples are the Car and Camper, Fire Plane and Ambulance at 40%, 28% and 25% over MSRP respectively.

You'd be surprised to know that it is physically possible to save money with this deal but you have to choose wisely. The best I was able to do was pairing up the Robber's Hideout (4438) with a Space Moon Buggy (3365) resulting in a net saving of $4 off MSRP. Can anyone beat that? :o)

Free Star Wars Polybag with Qualifying Purchase at Toys R Us [Shopping news (USA)]

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:24:39 GMT

Valid thru' Saturday 2/4, Toys R Us is offering a free Anakin's Pod Racer polybag (30057) with any total LEGO Star Wars construction set purchase of $20 or more. You can also currently buy these both in store and online for $4.99 at Toys R Us. There is a catch though. If you haven't yet noticed, February has arrived but Toys R Us continues to maintain their excessive holiday markups on most LEGO sets. Shining examples are the V-Wing, Ewok Attack and Battle for Geonosis at 40%, 33% and 25% over MSRP respectively. At this rate, you would save only a net $1 off MSRP if you used the two new battlepacks to reach the $20 threshold. But for those like me who can't resist a new polybag, your best bet will be to pick up the Droid Escape (9490) or Geonosian Cannon (9491) as they are only marked up 10%. Here's hoping Toys R Us will fix their pricing sometime soon.

Friends building event at TRU this weekend [Shopping news (USA)]

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:47:05 GMT

Head on down to TRU on Saturday 4th Feb between 12-2 and, if you can fight off all the little girls, you'll be able to build this lemonade stand and get a free Stephanie (5000245) when you spend over $20 on Friends sets. More information on this mailshot.

(Thanks to engsnymph for the news)

Gear is here to stay... [Brickset news]

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:28:05 GMT

Thank you all for your comments and feedback about whether to delete 'Gear' from the database. There were some good arguments for and against but the case for it remaining was stronger so I've decided to keep it.

That's not to say that everything with a LEGO logo on it automatically goes in, though. I don't plan to add all the 'tat' (of the type you can see here) but I will be adding items of interest to AFOLs.

Today I've added the Moleskine notebooks that are coming out soon. These are high quality items that are bound to be of interest to many. You can order them from Amazon for delivery in May:

shop.LEGO.com promotion [shop.LEGO.com news (US)]

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:03:24 GMT

No free shipping for you in the USA but you can get a free City poster on orders over $35 until the end of February.

Click on the image and get shopping!

shop.LEGO.com promotion [shop.LEGO.com news (UK)]

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:57:04 GMT

There are a couple of offers on at the moment:

- FREE Delivery on orders of £25 or more until 15^thFeb.
- FREE LEGO City Poster until 29^th Feb. or while supplies last.

Click on the image to take advantage of them!

LEGO Muji sets [Miscellaneous news]

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:30:28 GMT

We have mentioned LEGO Muji sets in the news several times before (here and here). If you don't remember, they originate from the trendy Japanese lifestyle brand Muji and consist of paper, LEGO bricks and a hole punch to make holes in the former so it can be joined with the latter.

I've always fancied seeing what they are like and, now, thanks to Brickset member iadams, I have three of the sets and the punch. Actually I've had them since October and he's been badgering me ever since to add them to the database :-)

So, I finally found time to do so today, and you can see them here. I've also added scans of the box contents inventory so you can see what's inside.

The three I have appear to be from the original series that were available only in Japan. Later ones are available from Muji.us in the USA and two are also listed at Muji.eu.

So, what's inside the box? Here's the contents of the one with the hedgehog on it. I've included the hole punch and guide in the picture but you need to buy that separately.

There's a bag of pre-punched paper, the LEGO bricks in a ziplock bag, an inspiration booklet and, along the top, a card printed with the shapes needed for making the animals in the booklet.

One thing is clear: to get good results you'll need a very sharp knife, a steady hand and a lot of patience.

Because it looks too good to spoil, I probably won't ever make mine so I won't know how hard it is or whether I possess the necessary skills to do a good job :-)

AFOLCON news... 3 months to go! [Event news (Europe)]

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:15:30 GMT

News hot off the press from the LEGO SHOW and AFOLCON office:

"We're very pleased to announce that the team behind the amazing Christmas tree in St Pancras station will be coming to the show. Both Duncan Titmarsh and Ed Diment from Bright Bricks will be at AFOLCON to talk about how you put together a 3 tonne LEGO tree.

"They'll also be showcasing some of their smaller works too - as big as our venue is, the tree just won't fit! For those attending the LEGO Show, Ed and Duncan will also be running special workshops where you can learn how to build like a pro.

"We're also soon be announcing the LEGO Designers that will be present at the show. AFOLCON attendees will again have a unique chance to listen and talk to LEGO Designers about how the products are developed. Last year, Mark Stafford brought never-seen-before prototype models of the Alien Conquest line. Who knows what's in store for 2012?

"Finally, if you live in the North of England, you're about to hear a lot about The LEGO Show - keep an eye out in the local press for us…. And if you'd like your 15 minutes of fame, then make sure you're registered for AFOLCON and we know what you're working on. We might just make you famous… for a while ;-)"

AFOLCON runs on the 3rd and 4th May 2012 and is open to anyone over the age of 16 (16-18yr olds must be accompanied). Tickets cost £60 and include all session, an out-of-hours visit to the LEGOLand Discovery Centre and a goodie bag which includes 1Kg of LEGO. For more details, go to www.afolcon.com.

The LEGO Show is open to the public on the 5th, 6th and 7th May. Tickets cost just £29 for a family of four when booked online, saving you the queue and 20%. For more details, go to www.thelegoshow.com.

Latest LOTR posters [New set news]

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:51:45 GMT

Here are the latest LOTR posters direct from LEGO. I read on Eurobricks that the LOTR microsite at LEGO.com is now live, but there's not much on it yet.

Lego At Home Sense [Shopping news (Canada)]

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:18:27 GMT

As I got dragged into Home Sense (with locations across Canada), I was pleasantly surprised to find a small selection of LEGO in their kids' section; some of which has recently gone on clearance.

I just picked up a City of Atlantis set for $44 on sale. Great pieces to go with the roman minifig from series 6.

Another set to note on "double clearance" was 7326 Rise of the Sphinx (which I believe is regularly 64.99) on sale for around 35.

I found a new appreciation for Home Sense that day!

Bargains at Tesco [Shopping news (UK)]

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:49:40 GMT

A couple of people emailed to say that Tesco has some decent discounts on large sets and a discount code as well at the moment.

25% off three of the larger sets from the Harry Potter, Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean ranges, plus they are offering £10 off any £75 or more spend, thus reducing the set prices further. Use code TDX-7PKF at the check-out.

4195 : Pirates Of The Caribbean Queen Annes Revenge (sale price of £66 after the discount code) http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.211-5600.aspx
7964 : Star Wars Republic Frigate (sale price of £69 after the discount code)
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.211-8876.aspx
4842 Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (sale price of £67 after the discount code)
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-7709.aspx

(Thanks bigospedros and Andrew H)

Marvel Super Heroes 'Ultrabuilds' revealed [New set news]

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:41:11 GMT

LEGO has done a good job of keeping these under wraps, until now...

Brickipedia has just posted images of the three large action figures, The Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America. I've added them to the database and you can see them here.

(Thanks to ansel.and.ethan for the news!)

Refocusing the Brickset database [Brickset news]

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:25:33 GMT

This time last year we reorganised the database to group all 'non-core' products into the Gear theme.

I am now considering the following changes to the items that Brickset records in the database:

I want to remove virtually all products that do not contain regular bricks, such as bedding, clothes, bags, books, DVDs, video games, pens, clocks, watches, stationery and so on.
I want to remove all product collections that existed only as line items at shop.LEGO.com (i.e. items in this list after 78800) as opposed to those that had special packaging (the remainder of that list)
I want to reserve the right not to include licenced products that contain bricks (e.g. Nintendo DS covers, LEGO annuals, Muji sets, Moleskine books etc.)

My rationale for these changes are

To improve the overall quality, accuracy and completeness of the database. If its scope is reduced it will be easier to maintain a high quality of information.
The products listed above are generally of little interest to LEGO collectors and to some extent they 'clutter up' the database and consequently the search results. You may well own some of them but you probably don't really collect them.
There are so many LEGO-licenced products nowadays that it is impossible to keep track of them all and record information about them accurately.

Books/DVDs that come with bricks, keychains, magnets, coin banks, idea books etc. will of course remain in the database and I will strive to improve our coverage of them.

We are discussing this in the forum and I welcome your comments either here or in the forum if you feel strongly about this.

Mini-Modulars now available at shop.LEGO.com [shop.LEGO.com news (General)]

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:39:27 GMT

The Mini-modulars can now be ordered from shop.LEGO.com, but you have to be logged in to be able to do so. Mighty Wanderer emailed to say they were available but when I first looked it said 'coming soon 1st Feb.'

It seems that if you search for 10230 at LEGO.com and you are not logged in you end up at product landing page that says 'coming soon' but when you click on 'full details' it takes you back to the shop home page.

So, if you want to order, use these links [UK (£60) | USA ($80) | Canada ($100)] and if you end up at the home page, sign in and try again.

Sydney Brick Show - 2nd and 3rd June 2012 [Event news (Australia)]

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:54:48 GMT

It has just been announced that a group of AFOLs in Sydney are organising a LEGO Fan event and exhibiton, The Sydney Brick Show, to be held at the Powerhouse Musem in Sydney, Australia this coming June.

From the website:

The Sydney Brick Show will held on 2-3 June at the Powerhouse Museum. We invite you to join us in displaying your creative genius at Sydney’s first LEGO® fan event in 2012. The new Sydney Brick Show will bring together the best in LEGO® fan conventions with a family fun showcase of AFOL creations.

The amazing two day event will include public viewing, interactive activities and a spectacular evening fan reception with competitions, guest speakers, everyone’s favorite “Dirty Brickster” and MORE! Proceeds from the Saturday night reception will be given to the Westmead Children’s Hospital for the inspirational work they perform everyday!

More info at: sydneybrickshow.com.au

Brickset users spend $27 million on LEGO in a year [Brickset news]

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:41:28 GMT

This time last year I published some figures for the size and value of our collective collections. Between us we had 1,992,000 sets and just over 500,000,000 parts worth $52,000,000.

This year the numbers are, as you can see from the sidebar, 2,900,000 sets, 750,000,000 parts and worth just under $79,000,000

36,205 people have registered their collections which is just under 10,000 more than had done so this time last year. The average size of people's collections has risen from 74 to 81 sets.

So while the headline no doubt grabbed your attention, it's not entirely accurate because the 10,000 new users may have added sets purchased in previous years. If I get time, I'll devise some algorithms to come up with more accurate numbers.

Still, they are impressive statistics and if nothing else, go to show that collectively we own a lot of LEGO and spend a lot of money on it.

If the growth continues as it has, this time next year we'll own 1 billion pieces!